Budget carrier SpiceJet under its discount fares as low as Rs 499 has sold over one lakh tickets on Day 1 of the three-day offer.

"The airline has been rolling out such special and heavily discounted fare offers almost every other day so far this year. But the way it has been lapped up by customers today indicates a record of sort," an airline source told PTI.

By 4 pm, tickets sale touched 1-lakh mark, the source said adding: "It expects to set a new sales record in terms of booking, in a single day."

The bookings for the three-day limited period offer titled 'Early Bird,' commenced today with a travel validity period between January 16 and October 24 next year across domestic network of the carrier.

Last week also, the Kalanithi Maran-promoted SpiceJet had announced a similar offer with fares starting Rs 1,888 across its domestic destinations.

SpiceJet was the first domestic carrier to slash fares this year as soon as the lean period set in January, which is traditionally a weak quarter for the industry.

The carrier at that time had reduced fares by almost 50 per cent to stimulate demand and also mop up cash for working capital.

"SpiceJet's aggressive pricing and inventory management strategy is aimed at stimulating more travellers to take up air travel through affordable prices and improve load factor through advance purchase sales and promotions," SpiceJet said in its annual report.

Against the backdrop of this strategy only, SpiceJet achieved the highest seat factor at 79.4 per cent in July among all domestic carriers besides unseating Jet Airways from the No 2 position in terms of market share in the month with 21 per cent of the market pie.

This sale will allow customers to enjoy low fares by planning their journey and holidays in advance, the airline said while announcing the sale offer today.

"While the number of travellers opting for air travel during holidays has increased over the years, with the introduction of advance purchase fares, the number will only grow further," said chief commercial officer Kaneswaran Avili.